A small to medium-sized, narrow-leaved peppermint tree endemic to
Tasmania where it is widespread in the drier, north-eastern half
of the island, from coastal areas extending well inland to the edges
of plateaux.

The bark of E. amygdalina is rough over the whole trunk unlike
that in the closely related E.pulchella which has
the narrowest leaves of all the peppermints. The bark in northern
forms of E. pulchella may be rough in the lower half of
the trunk. The seedling leaves of E. amygdalina are notable
for the almost complete lack of oil glands.

Eucalyptus amygdalina belongs to Eucalyptus subgenus
Eucalyptus section Aromatica (the peppermints) because
the buds have a single operculum, anthers are reniform, ovules are
in 2 rows, seeds are ± pyramidal, adult leaf venation is
acute to sub-parallel (rarely parallel) and juvenile leaves are
sessile and opposite for many pairs. Within this section, E.
amygdalina belongs to an endemic Tasmanian series of 6 species,
series Insulanae, with the other species being E. pulchella
, mentioned above; E. tenuiramis , a smooth barked tree
with crown of mixed opposite, petiolate intermediate leaves and
alternate, petiolate, adult leaves, and connate juvenile leaves
on coppice growth; E. risdonii , also smooth-barked
but with a glaucous crown of opposite, sessile, often connate juvenile
leaves; E. nitida , a rough or partly
rough-barked tree species (rarely almost smooth), with a crown of
adult, petiolate leaves generally broader than E. amygdalina;
and E. coccifera , a smooth barked
species of cold, high areas, with elliptical to cordate (non-connate)
juvenile leaves and a crown of fully adult leaves. The only other
peppermint species found in Tasmania is the more distantly related,
common mainland species, E. radiata
subsp. radiata , a rough-barked, tall, forest tree restricted,
in Tasmania, to the Lemonthyne area. It has a narrow-leaved crown
of adult leaves and narrowly lanceolate juvenile leaves with numerous
oil glands.